Pros: Austins Colony DGC is a pretty good 9 hole course, located around a school, and recreational area with covered basketball and tennis courts, archery range, walking trails, playground and more. A nice variety of long and short holes in lefts, rights, and a couple of doglegs. The tees are dirt, usually level and clear. All baskets are in place and in good working order. Several of the holes use thick rough and trees, effectively adding difficulty. Others are easy twos for experienced disc golfers. Scoring par is not a given.

Cons: Many other park users means occasional delays in play. A walking path crosses the course in places and ball fields border some holes. The ninth hole ends with a good walk back to the car. The course could be marked better, but after one time through is isn't hard to navigate. Two holes are missing tee signs. It was dry for my most recent round, but rains can leave muddy tee pads and puddles on the fairways.

Other Thoughts: Austins Colony offers a few challenging holes, and a fast nine with a lot of different looks. I played it often when I lived in the area, and still would if I were still there. It isn't the best course in town, maybe not in the top three, but I enjoy it all the same.

Pros: There is enough variation in this nine hole course to use a repertoire of shots, and the overall length of the course is good. There is a nice creek and a wooded area for holes #4 and #5 with a different look from the beginning and ending parts of the course. There is ample parking, and it looks like this is an underplayed course compared to more prominent courses in the area.

BEST HOLE/S: #3; #5

Cons: Pin #4 is currently missing. Being in the heavily wooded area - I'm not surprised if it has been stolen, which is too bad because it takes so much away from the course. We used a tree about four feet from where the pin placement was as our target for this exceptionally easy 120' dog leg left. #4 seems more like a filler hole than the impressive tightly wooded creek-lined hole it could have been. #5 also looks like a lazy design choice picking an existing path rather than cut the forest a little to make a interesting shot.

In addition, #7 is a throwaway hole - a straightforward, barely treed 265' shot that seems like a throwback to older courses like Alex Clark Memorial DGC in McKinney. The signage is average in general, but sub standard to most Houck designed tee signs. Plus, besides hole #3, most are easy to drive in one. Really, the first three holes I believe are the best and the only reason it managed a 2.5 disc rating. Note, make sure you consult a map for the walks between #2 and #3 as well as between #3 and #4.

WORST HOLE/S: #7

Other Thoughts: Austin's Colony is not a bad course, however - I guess I just expect more when I come to a Houck course. The combine of straightforward lines, and no real wow factor, I would prefer to play the other courses if I was in the area. So, would I enjoy playing here if I lived close - sure, it makes for a fine home course. This just isn't the course I would drive out of my way to play, and certainly is at the bottom of the around 10 different Houck courses I have played.

Having finally played all of the current courses the Bryan/College Station area has to offer, I have made two separate lists for you to consider when making your next visit to Aggieland. I have ranked them first by overall course quality and then my personal enjoyment rating which varies a bit from the first list. Please note however, I enjoyed all of these courses, and none of them stood out as the clear favorite.

Pros:
A well designed 9-hole course that has a pretty good balance of holes. For RHBH players there's one anhyzer, five mostly straight shots, and three hyzer shots. No significant elevation, but good use of trees to make challenging shots. Tee signs are very well done.

A nice multi-use park with all the amenities including bathrooms, plus a roller hockey rink and archery range above and beyond the standard fare.

Cons:
First timers absolutely need a map as the transition from #2 to #3 is not obvious and #4 & #5 can easily be missed if you don't know where they are.

There's more walking than you might expect from a 9-hole course. #9 does not finish close to where #1 starts.

Stay out of the creek because that water is nasty. The park isn't filthy, but it definitely has its share of litter.

Other Thoughts:
The weather was poor when I played thus the park was mostly empty other than the golfers at the tournament, so I can't speak much to the possibility of interference from other park patrons but I can see where that might be an issue during peak periods.

#1 starts off with a fairly wide tree lined fairway shot with a slight hyzer fade at the end. #2 is the biggest anhyzer shot on the course. #3 is long at almost 550'. #4 is a very challenging 120' sharp left curve that abuts the creek so don't overthrow it. #5 will test your straight throwing, tree dodging ability. #6 is a straight, slight anhyzer shot with a gap to hit 2/3 of the way down the fairway. #7 is a pretty easy straight or hyzer shot. #8 and #9 have a pond area which a local told me is almost always dry. #8 is a straight shot ~160' over the pond which should be easy to clear for most players. #9 is a great hole: it takes an almost perfect shot to put yourself in birdie position and that's assuming the pond is dry. If there's water then the hole changes completely as the OB risk wouldn't be worth the reward.

Bottom line is that I thought the course was technically okay, but I just didn't get a great vibe from it that would inspire be to go out of my way for this course.